


all i've ever known

by boltlightning



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Emotional Hurt, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, cloud is a sweetheart, mostly comfort, post-remake but remake compliant, sweet kids with trauma helping one another
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-26
Updated: 2020-04-26
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:07:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23858083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/boltlightning/pseuds/boltlightning
Summary: The sky over Cosmo Canyon is great and open, and Aerith might drown in it.
Relationships: Aerith Gainsborough/Cloud Strife
Comments: 1
Kudos: 87
Collections: Umbrella & Nailbat | Recs





	all i've ever known

The sky above Cosmo Canyon is unlike any.

It stretches from horizon to horizon, touching places Aerith cannot even imagine exist. She stands on the dusty precipice below Bugenhagen’s hut and thinks, _this_ is the Planet that the people of Midgar should be able to see, not just Shinra’s vision of it. Even the deep, deep dark of the night sky is a color new to Aerith, the stars twinkling at every turn of her vision.

It is great and open, and Aerith might drown in it if she stares too long.

The sky above the Midgar undercity was unlike any as well, and Aerith finds herself missing it. The steel sky was jarring, man-made, laden with pipes. It was an ugly symbol of separation and oppression to all who lived under it. But she knew exactly where the sky ended, and could take anyone to visit. The slums were small and cramped, polluted and dismal — but they were her territory. There is comfort in familiarity, and there is no place more familiar to her than the underbelly of Sector 5. 

_But this is my inheritance,_ she thinks, staring up at the stars. _The Planet._ She folds her dress up under her as she kneels; as soon as her fingers touch the earth, she hears the voices of the Lifestream, a dull and listless drone at the back of her head.

Briefly, she pulls her hand away, but she knows she should not. She is the only one who can hear their calls. Is it not selfish to mute them for her own comfort? There was a level of selfishness she could afford under the steel sky — you do not get by in Midgar by acquiescing to every rogue who calls to you, after all — but she is in unfamiliar territory now.

In many ways, Aerith is more free than she ever has been. She is on her own journey, travelling with companions she has come to love, and pursuing a quest of her own choosing. But to know that she is the only survivor of the Cetra, and the only one who can carry these burdens is far too heavy a weight to bear alone. 

She is pulled back into the days in the Shinra Building, trapped in a cell with her dying mother, painting pictures on the walls of a world she had never thought she would inhabit. She had just been the Ancient then. She had been able to be Aerith in Midgar, carving a place in the undercity ecosystem as a savvy florist. But she finds herself as the Ancient once again.

She feels _alone._

She is in the cell again. The sandy earth beneath her fingers is the steel of Shinra’s laboratory floors, and the sky is a mural she had painted from her dreams. Aerith bows her head. Her tears are hot and embarrassing and raw, but Aerith allows herself this moment.

 _These are for you,_ she thinks, to the voices of the Planet. _They are the least I can offer._

“Aerith?”

Cloud’s voice sounds behind her, cautious and curious. Despite his steel-toed boots, his footsteps are nearly silent as he approaches. Aerith uses the heel of her hand to clear her eyes as she turns to face him, still holding in sniffles and sobs.

The confusion in Cloud’s eyes turns to surprise, then concern. He rushes forward and drops to one knee beside her, inspecting her for apparent injuries or harm. His eyes glow faintly in the moonlight, and when she meets them, understanding floods over him. Hesitantly, he holds out his arms to her. Without thinking, she collapses against him, clutching at his shirt like an inconsolable child. After a beat, he returns the embrace just as fiercely, his arms firm around her and his cheek pressed into her hair.

He holds her as she quietly sobs beneath the open sky. “I’m here,” he whispers periodically. “I know. I’m here, I’m here.”

They are simple words, but they are comforting and earnest. His heat, his voice, the steady cadence of his breathing — Aerith tethers herself to these things, and begins to return to her strength.

Cloud speaks as soon as her breathing is regular. “Better?”

“Yes,” she murmurs. She is acutely aware of how close their faces are. “How did you know what to do?”

His silence is so heavy, it could bury Cosmo Canyon. “A lot has happened,” he answers at length. “It’s...easy to get overwhelmed.”

Was he speaking of their journey so far, or his life as a whole? Aerith has seen Cloud’s lapses; the ripples of his past still leave him shaking and breathless when he encounters reminders in the present. Currently, he guards his expression carefully, but they both know full well he is not telling the whole truth. He clears his throat awkwardly, and breaks the prolonged eye contact.

“I should go,” he mutters abruptly, and moves to stand. Aerith stops him with a hand on his arm before he can extract himself from the embrace entirely.

“Stay,” she asks simply. “Please.” The rest of her plea is silent — _I don’t want to be alone —_ but Cloud pauses. He nods shortly and businesslike, as if they hadn’t just shared an incredibly emotional moment, drops back down to the ground. Aerith leans her head on his shoulder. She hears him sigh, but it is not a frustrated or resentful sigh.

“Rest,” he tells her softly. “I’ll protect you.”

Gratefully, Aerith closes her eyes and settles in closer next to him. He does not shift away.

Aerith does not know when she drifted off, but when she wakes the next morning, she is in her room in Cosmo Canyon’s only inn. Tifa and Yuffie have both left for the day already, and even from the second floor, Aerith can hear Barret’s morning greetings to the team.

She dresses hurriedly, grabs her staff, and rushes downstairs to join them.

The party fumbles about as they prepare for the day’s mission. Barret mutters about ammunition as he speaks to the innkeeper. Nanaki sits beside him, impatiently flicking his tail. Tifa pushes a bleary-eyed and whining Yuffie away from the breakfast table, and smiles brightly at Aerith as they exit the inn.

Cloud waits by the door with his arms crossed, leaning against the wall.

“Heya,” Aerith greets.

“Hey.” He glances her over; concern creases his brow. “Sleep well?”

She smooths down the skirt of her dress. “Oh, you know,” she hems, “Well in some ways, worse in others. I…thank you, Cloud. I mean it.”

“Of course,” he says, lowering his voice. “You know I’m... _we’re_ here for you, right?”

 _You are not alone,_ in other words. He blushes slightly, just enough to make him hesitate.

“I know,” she says. “I know. You’re still on the clock, remember?”

“A bodyguard’s duty is never done,” he responds immediately. Just like that, they snap back to normal, the florist and her bodyguard with their easy rapport. Nanaki slips by them to exit the inn, and Barret isn’t long after. 

Cloud gestures after them. “We should get going.”

“Right.”

Aerith does not miss how Cloud holds the door for her. She regards the great sky fondly, pastel in the day’s newness, and catches her bodyguard doing the same.


End file.
